as the u.s. government continues to borrow money to pay its bills the debt has topped sixteen trillion dollars but now one economist says our debt is so bad civilization may not survive the so-called death spiral is this really the case will question more and it's one of the dangers of living on the west coast earthquakes for years there's been predictions of the big one so how would the region handle a massive earthquake party looks into this issue coming up and do you own an apple product the company has been forced to change how its passwords are reset turns out all you need is a date of birth an e-mail to gain access to anyone's account we'll tell you about the man who made the discovery and what it means for your security.

it's monday march twenty fifth five pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you are watching r.t. . a death spiral that could end civilization as we know it those harsh words were used by former world bank economist richard duncan to describe the path that the u.s. economy could take if major changes don't happen and fast here's what he said recently on c n b c. if they don't prevent the credit supply from contracting then we will have a new depression so the policy is to ensure the credit continues to expand and now that's what government that is doing increasing government is making total debt grow otherwise we would have already collapsed into a deflation death spiral and duncan isn't alone in his fierce expert include experts including former reagan administration economist laurence kotlikoff and kurt morris agree and yet little is being done to reverse this trend let alone address it to help me figure out the root of this problem then the possible

solutions i was joined earlier by peter schiff he's the c.e.o. of euro pacific capital incorporated and i began by asking him if the federal debt is being called a death spiral is really accurate or if it's an exaggeration well i don't think he's exaggerating you know for years i think i was more bearish dinner richard duncan maybe he's trying to get out bearish me at this point but you know we are definitely headed for a real economic crisis in the united states what happened in two thousand and eight was just the opening act of meeting their main event is still coming in the debt is every you know every much a part of it you know how it's going to be unwound it's going to be a currency crisis for the dollar collapses because we print all this money because we don't want to default and we can't pay or will be some kind of combination of inflation and default but either way the chickens are going to come home the u.s. is going to be held accountable for trillions of dollars that we've borrowed and spent and we are simply unable to pay it back and we've created an economy

a phony economy that is completely dependent on the ability to keep borrowing more money that we can't pay back now you did say that part of the problem is our debt isn't really the debt or the persistent unemployment that's the root of our economic woes at this point. well one of the reasons that we have so much debt is because we have a lot of unemployed people and of course we have a lot of people who are employed in non productive ways and that's also part of the problem that's why we have such a large trade deficit but a lot of this is the fault of the central government the federal government the federal reserve that are micromanaging our economy from washington and the whole thing is screwed up there are they are focusing our resources where they shouldn't be whether it's housing education healthcare banking retail and those resources are being diverted from where they need to be so we have this phony economy that can create productive jobs that is dependent on the fed printing on

borrowing on trade deficits but we can't do this forever and the longer we do it the bigger disaster when it ends but here assad of the last forty six forty six the last fifty years excuse me on our country has been in this kind of budget deficit and we haven't gotten caught in a death spiral so why now what is really getting at this problem. well not yet but it's the enormity of the problem it starts off as a small problem it's like you know you can you can get cancer but you don't die right away you have to wait until the disease grows to the point that it kills you and you know our debt was a cancer but it's taken a long time for the disease to progress and i guess it's not fatal at this very second but you know we're really close to it if you look at the size of the debt you know the government is forecasting that interest payments on the national debt in two thousand and thirteen are going to be two hundred twenty eight billion the last time we had an interest rate buildout low ronald reagan was the president and

the debt the national debt was two trillion something so what's keeping and o.e. is the fed if we had to pay a real rate of interest on our debt right now there is no way we could afford it i've also heard of the economy being described as a pyramid scheme that could potentially escalate to a point where we can't recover but let's take a look at what's going on in sight for us right now this little island nation's banks were eight times the size of the country's entire economy and they imploded the country was forced to turn to the european central bank to beg for money at whatever cost the demanded and that was a ten billion dollar deal that was actually just reached pretty recently and it cost the citizens quite a bit and this tiny nation is making a huge impact on the global economy particularly in the u.s. so let me play you a quick clip this is how the media protégé portrayed this event. i think the story has been out of sight for us to impact you but you want to think you get it how can

a small island nation off the coast of greece how can tiny cyprus with just over a million people be rocking the economic world protesters gathered outside the european union office in cyprus demanding help its neighbor this is a tiny tiny country but huge potentially global ramifications of reverberates throughout the economy so it's a massive problem and yet no one even knows where cyprus is in the u.s. take a look at best. do you know where cyprus is you know where no. country. to be to who. people really know no doubt whatsoever that is by. jerusalem i mean days from that's a very difficult for somebody who came from europe. i do not. mean brazil. south or to south america cyprus is

a very large mediterranean mediterranean island just off the west coast of turkey. so a lot of don't know where it is and yet it's having a huge impact and as i mentioned they're seizing some thirty percent of the people's our assets the bank assets are over one hundred thousand dollars can something like that happen here where the government fees are a savings accounts. well first of all you know it's not fair to ask americans geography questions than a lot of americans can't even find the united states on a on a map let alone cyprus but you know a lot of americans didn't know where greece was either and you know it sounds a lot like what we've said about the subprime mortgages you know it's a tiny little problem why should we care you know the problem is huge just because it's happening first you know cyprus is the tip of a very big iceberg when it comes to banks because you know we have the posit insurance in america just like cyprus and one thing we have in common is if our major banks failed if the two largest banks in america were to fail bank of america

and citigroup there's over two trillion dollars in deposits there and the federal debt the i see has about twenty five billion dollars that's it and of course it's all in u.s. treasuries so if large banks were to fail in america you know depositors are going to take losses too and of course what everybody forgets is american depositors already suffering in the positive x. is called quantitative easing zero percent interest rates is a way the government confiscates the interest that you would ordinarily earn on your bank account and because quantitative easing means that there's inflation it means prices go up we're paying a very severe deposit tax everywhere in the united states and i orginally i think it's going to get much larger as the years go on all interesting points peter schiff that's why we turn to you for r. and allison a c.e.o. of a hero pacific capital peter schiff and speaking of doomsday scenarios the perfect collision of seismic said vents could actually kill tens of thousands of

people and wipe away entire towns seismic researchers say that that fear could become an american reality and not too distant a future and is telling the government to prepare for the worst r.t. correspondent ramon galindo reports. she. said. emergency personnel crushed under their desks as a huge aftershock hit the los angeles area this time it's just a drill the simulated seven point eight magnitude earthquake gives first responders a chance to prepare for the big one an earthquake researchers get just as an early warning system before the real thing happens after a magnitude seven point eight earthquake we're going to have of course a lot of problems are given he manages the office of earthquake programs at the california institute of technology she explains what the simulated quake would look like in reality we're looking at three hundred thousand buildings being damaged

we're looking at eight hundred deaths we're looking at fifty thousand injuries that need hospitalization water and electricity service could be out for weeks a catastrophic earthquake is deemed inevitable in southern california and would be much worse than the six point seven magnitude northridge quake which killed dozens of people new research shows the seven driscol which runs through california may be at risk for a mega quake which could shake the entire state. during the early warning system being developed would give people a few seconds notice before the shaking reaches them elevator doors can open so people are trapped inside you can shut down caustic material so they don't become a secondary hazard you can turn off if you're cooking your stove you can turn off the gas here in california emergency personnel have learned many lessons from the japanese earthquake of twenty eleven you can see there are tsunami caution signs up and down the california coastline but despite all these warnings it seems like many

people on the west coast are still unprepared for the next big one. to get out of the building have a big gala next to my bed. but i should probably get another one just. a native chris white as another plant i would just. just pray man you know just to pray in. hopefully magic is will be with me i will have a girl so we go together at the same time you know los angeles firefighter larry call and response to the quakes in japan and haiti he's not surprised at the easygoing attitude of people living in an earthquake zone we know that the human condition that a lot of people that i know things bad could happen but i'm betting it's not going to happen to me california lawmakers have proposed an early warning system which would cost eighty million dollars that's much cheaper than the three hundred million dollar warning system in japan but at a time of tight budgets the state acknowledges they don't know where the money would come from the government totally funded their early warning there they also

have magnitudes sixes and sevens and eights on a regular basis and so the need for that was that the government then totally funded that that system celtic says they are still a couple of years away from making their quick warning system fully functioning they just hope the next killer quake won't hit before then. in los angeles. well for more on the imminent dangers this predicted earthquake could cause arctic correspondent rym angelino join earlier i asked him whether california was prepared for the so-called big one. you know when it comes to us california is considered to be the most ready for an earthquake but when you take a closer look and the things that scientists and engineers also are taking a look at california much like the rest of the west coast is woefully unprepared now here in this day we have some of the top this building restrictions ever engineers point out that something like eighty percent of the buildings were built

even before these earthquakes sanders were put into effect so we still have a potential of thousands of buildings just crumbling during an earthquake and the infrastructure underneath the ground is what you're not thinking about pipes that are over one hundred years old likely bursey not just water pipes but also gas pipes as well and ramon you did just say that they are woefully unprepared to are there any recent examples that show that infrastructure on the west coast is not ready for an earthquake or a tsunami absolutely when we when we talk about infrastructure into two thousand and eleven there was a massive blackout which affected four million people here on the west coast and this was this was not even during an earthquake. people were stuck in elevators this was there was one hundred degree heat where people didn't have air conditioning or water people were stuck on rides at sea world so and this was not even during an earthquake during an earthquake there would likely be tons of fires

but a simple event like this prove that. even without a disaster the infrastructure here in southern california is woefully and. still not up to date and a room and i know that there are several nuclear power plants i'll long the coast of california and other places let's talk about the sand i know for a nuclear power plant and it's readiness to withstand an earthquake is it prepared . well that's right this i don't overplan lies have a between los angeles and san diego now that plant was built for more than four decades ago and they lost a key to that six point five earthquake would hit the area so it's designed to withstand a seven point five earthquake now if you take a look at the japanese here earthquake which damaged the fukushima plant now there was an eight point nine now scientists here are predicting a mag magnitude quake of that size here in california but that hasn't let you know that has really calm the nerves there especially when you look at the fact that

there are more discoveries when it comes to faults in earthquakes every single year just two years ago scientists discovered fifty more earthquake faults just here in california and there's new research shows that a mega quake could stretch all the way from l.a. to san francisco so despite the fact that a tsunami of that size is not prognosticated for the southern california area still a lot of worries whether or not the plant will be able to withstand such a powerful jolt quite a scary notion ramond thank you so much for bringing us that story r.t. correspondent rym angelino in our l.a. studio. well when the u.s. was considering entering iraq back in two thousand and three almost every major publication took the bush administration at its word when it claimed that saddam hussein's possession of w m d's was a slam dunk but there were no met weapons of mass destruction and the majority of the media never really apologized for failing to verify what the bush administration asserted as fact last week on the tenth anniversary of the iraq war

the washington post commissioned author greg mitchell to write an article about the apologies that have in fact come out but wop oh might have bitten off more than it could chew in his research mitchell's article focused on the roles numerous media outlets played in the iraq war including an analysis of the parts that the washington post itself played in propping it up it said quote unlike the new york times washington post editors three months later did not produce their own explanation but allowed chief media reporter howard kurtz to write a lengthy critique editors and reporters admitted they had often performed poorly but offered one excuse after another that article is pulled from publication a thought that in the thoughts that it had earned a lot of criticism for the paper and speculation as to some of the more nefarious reasons for nixing the piece all together but the washington post's outlook at it or carlos low dasa said that the reason he pulled the article wasn't

a result of the criticism in his paper suffered from it in the statement he said to huffington post quote the notion that we were somehow seeking to protect the post or the media at large by not running mr mitchel's piece is misinformed we are well aware of his critical perspectives on the media's role in the iraq war given his book and frequent writings on the subject. so the if the paper really is already aware of mr mitchell's perspective why then did it commission the op ed in the first place just some food for thought this monday afternoon. on to cuba now where the united states southern command is asking the government for forty nine million dollars to construct another prison building in the guantanamo bay detention facility for its so-called special detainees that's on top of the money officials are already asking for for renovations to the facility bringing the overall requested budget to one hundred ninety five point seven million dollars

meanwhile the guantanamo bay hunger strike is entering its seventh week with no end in sight reported one hundred thirty one detainees are refusing food until get most of food officers agree to end all searches and seizures of their personal belongings although facility officials claim that the true number of the people that are actually participating in the hunger strike is closer to twenty six but the inmates cries for better treatment could be falling on deaf ears r t correspondent marina porter shows us how little attention this story is actually earning from the media. in the world of twenty four hour news no country knows the power of media better than the us are to believe it's been ten years since the shock and awe campaign that launched the iraq war i believe we could have removed saddam hussein in another way that would not have been so damaging to our i mean a man had to go ten years later the killing continues in iraq without also continuing without end the mass hunger strike at the guantanamo bay detention

center but that's hopping remains off the radar of mainstream news and hidden from the american public no i did not notice i had no idea. really according to the center for constitutional rights one hundred thirty guantanamo prisoners began a life threatening hunger strike nearly seven weeks ago to protest treatment and conditions at the island prison a prison america's president promised would be closed at the start of twenty tat do you think that that's a topic that should be reported by u.s. media yeah i think so. because they are being kept in prison by the u.s. or it's only fair that they get their views expressed that's what the whole country is built on is the freedom of information to do that i mean i just think it's the right thing to do time square is otherwise known as the mecca of media messages millions walk through here on a daily basis flooded with information through news tickers plasma screens and advertisements but as we've learned even the most important stories can be ignored

that nobody else is talking about this subject if this were happening in russia if people had disappeared into a legal black hole in russia and were facing indefinite incarceration without trial without charge and without access of attorneys would never hear the end of it the western media would be full of it human rights watch on this day international they'd be screaming from the rooftops of westminster behind me. but because this is an american crime because it's an american crime they are allowed to get away with it because the people who control the so-called mainstream media are fully on side with the agenda of the obama administration top u.s. general is now calling for hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the u.s. detention facility when c.n.n. finally turned its focus to get them out the so-called worldwide leader in news

ignored the hunger strike is there anything wrong with trying to improve it fix it spend a few hundred million dollars to get it ready for maybe a new generation of terrorists instead focusing on the money being requested to update the facility where one hundred sixty six detainees are still languishing you know that more than half of the t.v. he needs at guantanamo have been cleared for release. are you serious. you know i didn't i had no idea that. i did not. have more than one hundred prisoners reportedly could be their hunger strike the u.s. military continues to dispute the figures however when r.t. first broke the story on march twelfth u.s. officials were denying that a strike was even taking place as you recall they started off by saying no one's on a hunger strike just the five or six people who have been on a hunger strike for many years you know then that figure was revised up to fourteen and now we're seeing the figure steadily increasing but to nowhere near the extent

that the prison lawyers are talking about and i think you know hearing about how the law is and not being allowed to visit plus this big gulf between what the laws are saying and what the administration is saying is indicative of the administration still trying to clamp down on that they don't want this story act and i think that that means that a very big story going on but in the business of broadcast news u.s. networks have to prioritize which big stories deserve. most attention that's right the canadians are using farting to combat smoking nancy grace first of all i want to express my condolences what happened to your necklace former president bill clinton gets his way actress ashley judd will never be a united states senator. or to new york well in the quest for cyber protection apple rolled out a new two step verification system to protect users personal information the

process requires the user to log into their apple account then a code will be sent from one of from apple to one of their trusted devices the user then has to take that code and put it into their account in order to access their personal information this security edition came after a number of high profile hacks including senior writer for wired wired mat honan but it appears even the security measure has a flaw the apple users who have not yet enabled the security measure are in more danger of being hacked all it takes is a person's e-mail address and their birth date and the hacker can actually reset your password now apple officials say that they have corrected the problem but what guarantees are there that there aren't other vulnerabilities that exist in the system senior writer for the verge tim carmody joins me now. hi there tim you're the one that discovered this breach in the first place how did you do it. well i should be clear i did not discover it so as my colleague chris welch found it but

it actually been published on the open web. site used. by hackers people interested in making these kinds of exploits are it will i how is this problem fixed him is it fixed. well what happened was there was the vulnerability was in a password reset function in apple before to start verification that other security information they had was they would ask you personal questions this allowed but if you forgot the answer to the personal questions you could do it with your evil address and date of birth this was a u.r.l. script or u.r.l. syntax that allowed the user to bypass those questions so all you needed was your e-mail address and date of birth and this to sept verification process doesn't really make apple users any safer it makes them somewhat safer because again if your password is reset then if before if you don't have to start verification of someone manages to reset your password then they can log in immediately and have

access to a wide range of data you have to start verification enabled then they need access to that to those co codes or to a device that you actually have so they can't do it access it remotely so it's marginally safer but then again that's not the only weak spot in apple's security system as we have discovered and many others have discovered now we buy these high tech devices to connect ourselves to the world but is there such a thing as a device that connects us to the world without forcing us to connect our personal information to these companies. it's really difficult i mean again if you think about the i pod years ago all that you had that we know wasn't connected to the net at all increasingly these devices are being used to manage our identity they're backing themselves up over the net and being stored remotely in the cloud and i think that's one of the issues that apple's facing is that as they move from a hardware company really into

a cloud based company that's dealing with much more personal information them before they really have to get serious about security so the tradeoff is that our devices do know more about us than ever before that they provide so many more services that they do that than ever before and particularly these lightweight mobile devices are able to do so much more in terms of computing with unnecessary having to store all of the data on your phone so that's the lemma that we're faced with that's the new security challenge is trying to find a way to spread that data across lots of devices but at the same time keep that data secure and tempeh you're backing off of what you were just talking about news just came out that apple can locate us indoors after spending two million dollars in a silicon valley start up that can find you right down to the floor in the room of the building that your rent how does this kind of play into how we should feel about these security vulnerabilities or does it well one of the things that if you

had been able to reset your apple id password one of the things that that could do would be to find your phone or to find your mac and that would allow anyone who could actually password to be able to locate you even if they and that in that actually depends on you still having the device that you would use to secure with through stuff verification so i mean there is law and there's lots of really interesting sort of online offline things happening with security it's not just somebody accessing your information and getting your credit card data they can access your in from. and get your the data that you stored on your phone they can access your information and actually physically located you. depending on which of these services you have turned on by default and so i think that's the other thing that users and companies have to come to grips with is that the kinds of security breaches and the kinds of motivation of people who are looking to exploit these

holes in security are becoming much more varied and unpredictable and finally tim sometimes when the security breaches are shown the people who actually find these breaches can be prosecuted or otherwise punished harshly because of the computer fraud and abuse act that hasn't been really updated since one thousand nine hundred eighty six do you think that prosecuting these people's actually helped. well i mean there are different cases there are edge cases and i think this is one of the other issues that's going to be decided in in law some of it comes down to this issue of authorizing the computer without access what constitutes that in the age of the world wide web not just again wire transfers that are being made for your computer you know sort of back and banking things. and i think. the benefit of these prosecutions such as it is

is that it's forcing the issue of this law and it's forcing appellate courts and other. and there will be lawyers to really deal with what the nuances of this law are and what they should be interesting to see how they actually change this law and what it means for the people to actually do a skiver these tim carmody a senior writer at the verge thank you for joining us thank you. well authorities are telling nudists at a popular beach on the wisconsin river to take a hike at least during the weekdays a nude beach in maso maine wisconsin attracts people who bathed in the buff from all over the country but police say that the fund doesn't end with some naked splish flashing arrests records show that the riverbed is a hotbed for sexual acts and drugs in a span of nearly nine days in two thousand and eleven twenty six people were arrested by wardens for sex and sixteen people for drug offenses it was these kinds of an.